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The Ambulance Corps (History of Margovya)
|Row 3 title = Based on |Row 3 info = The Ambulance Corps: A Story of Soldiers, Doctors and Paramedics During the De Quilla Insurgency by |Row 4 title = Produced by |Row 4 info = Canal Diez Producciones |Row 5 title = Starring |Row 5 info = |Row 6 title = Network |Row 6 info = Canal Cinco Margovya |Row 7 title = Country of origin |Row 7 info = |Row 8 title = No. of seasons |Row 8 info = 4 |Row 9 title = No. of episodes |Row 9 info = ??? |Row 10 title = Running time |Row 10 info = 42-45 mins. }} The Ambulance Corps is a 1974-1978 Margovyan television series developed by Harold Navratilov, adapted from the 1970 novel The Ambulance Corps: A Story of Soldiers, Doctors and Paramedics During the De Quilla Insurgency by Konrad Frisk (who also assisted in developing the series for television). The series, which was produced by Canal Diez Producciones for Channel 10 Margovya, follows a squad of soldiers, draftees, and medical personnel from the 3rd Ambulance Corps of the Margovyan Army, stationed in Nuevo Babel, Del Quiev del Norte during the De Quilla Insurgency. The show was created after Frisk's first attempt at developing a series from his book with the Margovyan National Broadcasting Network failed due to creative differences. The series is noted for being similar in style and presentation of life-and-death issues during wartime to the American television series . The series also spawned two sequels, Ambulance 1982 which followed Frisk's experiences with paramedics in the then-present day of 1982 to 1986, and , a 2010 series set in contemporary times which follows new characters in the same volunteer paramedic outfit where Frisk served; and a spinoff series, Conchita, R.N. from 1996 to 2002 following the character of Nurse "Conchita" Nazarenko and her experiences at Arbatskaya City General Hospital. The Frisk character also sometimes shows up as a recurring character to maintain the connection between all four series. History Synopsis The series mainly revolves around the experiences of a number of soldiers and medical personnel assigned to the 3rd Ambulance Corps of the Margovyan Army stationed near the town of Nuevo Babel in Del Quiev del Norte Province during the De Quilla Insurgency of 1950-51. Although the source material focuses on the stories and experiences of numerous people, the series revolves around Corporal Konrad Frisk (played by Gregorio Beltran Santos), a draftee who curses the Armed Forces for disrupting his calm, steady and predictable life. Characters :See also: * as Corporal (later Sergeant) Konrad Frisk A draftee who is deployed to Del Quiev del Norte Province as part of the 3rd Ambulance Corps of the Margovyan Army, Frisk starts off as a lazy and hotheaded person who constantly insults the draft and the armed forces for ruining what would otherwise have been a perfect and nondescript life for him; however, as the series progresses, Frisk learns to appreciate the work he does for his fellow soldiers and medical personnel, some of whom also wished that they had not been dragged into the insurgency in the first place but continue to heal those that they could heal regardless. * as Captain Yevgraf Borisenko A brash and self-described "rip-roaring rollicking high-rolling lover of life" surgeon who spends most of his time chasing after the nurses, Borisenko nevertheless is actually extremely competent and efficient at his job and also hopes to be transferred to a field hospital or even the Nuevo Babel Military Medical Center. Borisenko becomes one of Frisk's first friends in the military since both of them share the same love for life and women and also because Borisenko was drafted into the Army for the insurgency just like Frisk. * as First Lieutenant Maksim Acevedo The calm, quiet and near-phlegmatic foil to Yevgraf Borisenko's loud and sanguine personality, Acevedo is a native of Del Quiev del Norte and actually used to be a supporter of the De Quilla movement in his college days before receiving a medical scholarship and dedicating his life to saving the lives of others. Acevedo and Borisenko have been friends ever since they first met despite Borisenko's pro-Russian sentiments and Acevedo's love for everything Hispanic. Acevedo considers himself a "decent enough doctor and surgeon" but is considered by his fellow medical personnel to be one of the best members of the 3rd Ambulance but becomes an alcoholic in later seasons. * as Second Lieutenant Grigoriy Radchenko If Acevedo is the foil to Borisenko then Radchenko is the foil to both Borisenko and Acevedo. Commonly depicted as a humorless man and surgeon who prefers to get on with the job immediately instead of dilly-dallying on trivial stuff like Borisenko and Acevedo are wont to do, Radchenko nevertheless appreciates a good joke or two so long as it is in good taste and has also been shown to not be above doing some tricks and jokes of his own to keep morale afloat in the 3rd Ambulance and actually becomes an intellectual friend of Frisk's. * as Second Lieutenant Semyon Salimov Described as a strait-laced yet naive commissioned officer fresh from the Margovyan Military Academy and sent straight to the line of fire as personal aide to Colonel Santibañez, Salimov is the most common target for pranks by Frisk and the other ambulance drivers as well as Borisenko and Acevedo due to his gullible nature and his over-the-top reactions to the pranks once they are played out. Despite all this, though, Salimov actually has a keen military mind and uses this to successfully fend off a rebel attack on the 3rd Ambulance's position during the Piedras Platas Offensive of January 1951 leading to the Battle of Nuevo Babel. When he is not being pranked by the others, Salimov is often busy flirting with Nurse Nazarenko. * as Colonel Ruslan Santibañez The stern but fair and level-headed commander of the 43rd First Response Regiment of the 3rd Ambulance Corps, Santibañez is the commanding officer that most soldiers dream of having, being a kind and jovial man who disciplines his troops when necessary but doesn't act like a tyrant or dictator while doing it. Santibañez earns the admiration of everyone within the corps for his style of leadership but there are moments in which he privately doubts his own abilities to lead his men through the insurgency, although he shows time and time again throughout the series that he is more than capable of keeping his men alive and even leading them to victory. * as Sergeant Yulian Zabrov The lead ambulance driver of the 43rd First Response, Zabrov is Frisk's immediate superior and presents himself as a long-serving member of the Margovyan Army as well as being a war hero with all the associated wounds and stories about his experiences. But underneath that tough-talking exterior is a jaded coward who has seen more than his fair share of friends and subordinates wounded and even killed in the field of battle and a man who only wants the insurgency to end quickly. Zabrov is the guy who usually looks for a battle against the insurgents but is also the first one to duck and run for cover when the bullets actually start flying towards him and he starts resenting Frisk when the other drivers begin following Frisk instead of Zabrov. In later seasons however, Zabrov begins to regain his courage after Frisk saves his life and begins to take more responsibility for his actions. * as Private Nestor Nesterenko Another fresh-faced recruit who joins Colonel Santibañez's staff as both the regiment clerk and an ambulance driver but is much more worldly and experienced than Lieutenant Salimov, Nesterenko is the kind of guy who prefers to let his actions do the talking for him, but that doesn't mean that he's not averse to a nice conversation or two among his friends and especially with the ladies, specifically the nurses of the 43rd First Response. Nesterenko and Frisk become fast friends who work together and sometimes with the surgeons to prank the ever-gullible Salimov. However, like most of the other people in the unit, all Nesterenko wants is for the war to end so he can go home. * as Private Ruma Ribabenko (1977-1978) The newest ambulance driver to arrive at the 3rd Ambulance, Ribabenko is actually a seventeen-year-old who managed to fudge up his records a little bit to show that he is actually eighteen years old at the time of his recruitment to the Army. Although he is a native Arbat, Ribabenko reveals that he actually lived in the city all his life and therefore knows little if anything about surviving off the land as the Arbats are famed for doing in Margovya. However, that doesn't stop Ribabenko from trying to learn all about his people from those who actually know about the Arbat way of life. Ribabenko looks up to Frisk and sees the latter as the older brother he never had. * as Major Heather Nuñez The commander of the nurses serving in the 43rd First Response Regiment, Nuñez is a strict and tough-talking head nurse who is very professional when she is on duty but is more than open to some flirting with the doctors, especially Lieutenant Radchenko, with whom she has an affair because Nuñez's husband is away in Balkonovich commanding the Galdia Platoon. However, when Nuñez finds out that her husband also had an affair, she immediately demands a divorce, but she also ends up breaking up with Radchenko soon after. * as Second Lieutenant "Conchita" Nazarenko Like her superior officer Major Nuñez, Nurse "Conchita" Nazarenko likes a good time with the men of the 43rd First Response, although unlike Nuñez, Nazarenko prefers to keep her options open and not limit herself to just one man or even two. Most of the time, Nurse Nazarenko can be seen flirting with Lieutenant Salimov, although she is also often open to the advances of Sergeant Zabrov and, less commonly, Private Nesterenko. * as Father Nikifor Maksimov Father Maksimov is the chaplain to the 43rd First Response Regiment. He is most notable for having defied the Margovyan tradition of priests Hispanicizing their names upon their ordination, noting that "priests should be free to preach under their own names just as much as if they want to serve under a new name". Father Maksimov is by nature a pacifist and is always at hand to pray over patients and administer the last rites when needed, but he is also open to some "proper fun" with the rest of the 43rd, so long as nobody is harmed and what they do doesn't compromise his Christian values. Controversy The Ambulance Corps is perhaps most famous as being Channel 10's direct competitor to MNBN's . Paramedics has eventually gone on to become one of the most popular television shows in Margovya while The Ambulance Corps is more obscure but nevertheless has its own cult following in the country and the rest of South America. Both The Ambulance Corps and Paramedics actually have common roots in that both shows were claimed to be originally the brainchild of Konrad Frisk, author of the book upon which The Ambulance Corps is based. The book, titled The Ambulance Corps: A Story of Soldiers, Doctors and Paramedics During the De Quilla Insurgency is based on Frisk's experiences as an ambulance driver with the 3rd Ambulance Corps during the aforementioned insurgency in Del Quiev del Norte and Del Quiev del Sur Provinces during the early 1950s and then as a civilian volunteer paramedic for the next twenty years. Frisk had already come to an agreement with MNBN to broadcast a televised adaptation of his book, but Frisk was reportedly not pleased with the "creative changes" that he claimed the network was forcing upon him and the production team throughout the production run of what would have been the series' first season. Frisk eventually had had enough of the supposed executive meddling and quit from the production in 1972, taking his book rights and associated intellectual property with him. According to Frisk, MNBN then brought onboard Leonid Pankavuranov as an executive producer as well as a new creative team to remove all references to Frisk's work, experiences and characters while keeping the creative changes that the network wanted to make, and this new series would eventually make its way to the small screen in 1973 as Paramedics. Nevertheless, Frisk claimed that numerous elements of Paramedics were taken from his book and sued MNBN for copyright violations and intellectual theft. The case was eventually settled out of court with Frisk reportedly getting a sum of seven million margots. To this day, despite the continued success of Paramedics, Frisk refuses to acknowledge the series as an adaptation of his work, claiming that he and MNBN had differing visions for the adaptation. According to Frisk, MNBN was trying too hard to turn the adaptation into a medical drama version of MNBN's other popular long-running series, by adding elements such as the Leader, Assistant Leader, the FAT Squad, the Driver, and the Helper. In Frisk's book, no one had clearly defined roles in the Ambulance Corps; whoever had the highest rank would usually be the leader and everyone else would administer what aid they can to the casualties that they received and transported back to the field hospitals. Frisk also decried Paramedics for presenting a skewed view of "the life and roles of the volunteer paramedics" and "turning the seriousness of the various situations that we paramedics face everyday into setups for trivial and sometimes insulting scenarios and jokes". Frisk has also decried some of the more risque content to come out of Paramedics, comparing them to his experiences with the Ambulance Corps and actual paramedics. Frisk claimed that he and his fellow paramedics were "the product of their day"; that they were "sexist and misogynist because that's how we were; we didn't know any better" but that the insults in Paramedics were being made "for the sake of being insulting". Frisk claimed to have never known of any paramedic, both in the army and in civilian life, who was insulting to patients or fellow paramedics simply for the sake of being insulting. Category:Margovya Category:Media (History of Margovya) Category:Television (Media, History of Margovya)